Friday, February 9, 2018

Trucking costs rising

The food industry is worried about rising trucking costs and there are predictions that it will increase food prices.

Tyson Foods, the world’s second-largest meat packer, and produce companies in Florida and California are among those predicting that trucking will force an increase in food prices.

The tight supply and rising prices were most severe in late January, but even though they have come down by about 15 per cent this month for produce haulers, they are still 20 per cent higher than a year ago.

One of the issues is the introduction of mandatory electronic logging devices in the United States. So far the agriculture and food industry has a temporary exemption.

But one report out of Florida says truckers are refusing pickups at more than one location because it takes too much time to make pickups at multiple locations.


It cited the example of one trucker using up 14 hours to complete pickups at three locations.